Dolan told the graduating Catholic school seniors that their education prepares them for this life and the next, and that they are not only the hope of the future, but also the present.

“When I look out at these kids coming to the end of twelve years of Catholic education, I say it’s worth every ounce of energy and every dime that we gotta scrape up,” said Dolan. “When I survey what these kids are doing — not only their faith, their prayer at Sunday Mass, but their service projects — I mean every school seems to be going to the inner city, to Appalachia, even some to Central America. There’s pro-life efforts. There’s soup kitchens. You see these kids everywhere. It’s faith in action.”

Senior Gabriel Delaney is going to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. “I want to go into politics. I think my high school has had a huge impact on that. Public service is a big part of Xavier High School in general and though I’m studying business, I’m understanding that business and politics walk hand in hand.”

He is eyeing 2040 as his year to make a possible run for the White House.

Joe Mahoney, 17, from Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers is going Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and wants to be a mechanical engineer. “I want to help people in some way, so I was really looking to like robotic prosthetics for people who lose limbs and all that.”

The word heard most often about the Archbishop’s Mass in the cathedral: awesome.

Are you a graduating Catholic high school student? What was your experience like and what are your aspirations? Let us know in the comments section below.

Rich Lamb

Rich Lamb is an award-winning reporter, who has been on the air at WCBS for nearly three decades.
His reporting has been cited numerous times, including awards by the Overseas Press Club, The Associated Press, UPI, The New York Press Club, the...